


Whatever it takes.

by Galliumite



Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Kinslaying, Shooting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-26
Updated: 2019-02-26
Packaged: 2019-11-06 04:42:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17933036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Galliumite/pseuds/Galliumite
Summary: A One-shot in which the probability map in episode 5 of the show gives a name that Five doesn't want to see. And that leads Five to responding to Luther's threats towards Dolores slightly differently.





	Whatever it takes.

“Aleks Cameron.”

That was one name that Five had hoped would be eliminated from his list. He had hoped that he wouldn’t have to consider him. Unfortunately, he was on the list… and he was looking to fit really well, the odds were not in poor Aleks’s favor.

Five was about to rerun the map, look to see if maybe there was a mistake, a way to replace that name with the name of someone, anyone else, when Luther walked in.  
“What is all this?” He asked, voice holding a little awe, and a lot of confusion.

“It’s a probability map” Five responded, although he was checking a portion of the map that could hold the key to removing the name, so he probably sounded disinterested.  
“Probability… probability of what?” Luther was sounding more and more confused.

“The probability of whose death might save the world” Five turned to look at Luther, he had checked the map, it was right, of course it was. His internal upset that the map was right, probably manifested itself as him sounding annoyed, but that wasn’t important. He had to get that damn name off the table.

What Five said during those contemplations, was the answer to an unasked question:

“I’ve narrowed it down to four.” Which was reassuring, if he just killed the others first, maybe he would not need to kill Aleks Cameron.

“So, are you saying one of these four people cause the apocalypse?” Luther’s voice was colored with hope.

“No, I’m saying their death might prevent it.” The annoyance was creeping back into his voice and Five knew it. The problem was that little of his mind was involved with this conversation. Because he had to plan how to kill the other three, before he would be forced to kill Aleks.

There was a paused, filled with silence, although Five barely aware of it. He was too consumed with his internal conflict.

“I’m still not following.” 

This was getting tedious.

Five went on to explain the butterfly effect caused by minuscule changes to the timeline.

Luther went on to basically call Five a heartless bastard. Five didn’t mind though, this was why he was here, save the day. He didn’t mind getting his hands dirty. 

Whatever it takes.

He just really hoped it wouldn’t take killing Aleks.

Things got ugly when the rifle was revealed. Luther clearly got angry at the thought of Five going out to kill innocent people, and that was exacerbated by the presence of the rifle.  
Luther did something rash then. He grabbed Dolores and held her out the window.

Five pointed the rifle at his brother without thought. He saw red. Not only was Luther threatening Dolores, he was riding his morally high horse at the same time, probably the same bloody horse that got him killed in the apocalypse where Five didn’t intervene.

“Put. Her. Down.” Five managed to grind out.

“Put the gun down, you’re not going anywhere today.” Luther’s voice was sickly sweet, like he believed that Five would be so easily cowed.

“It’s either her or the gun, you decide.”

And Five did.

The gunshot rang out clear as a bell.

Luther was still looking down at his chest, shock clear in his features when he let go of Dolores, Five jumped and grabbed her before she fell. As he brought the love of his life to his chest, a thud shattered the moment. Luther had fallen to the floor, gasping for breath.

“I’m sorry Luther, I really am.”

Five jumped into a nearby alleyway and fell to the cement.

Drained. 

He had Dolores with him, and her expression registered a grim acceptance like the one she wore when she knew Five needed to drink the amount he did.  
Whatever it took.

Five started to catch his breath then, he had so hoped, foolishly of course, that just this once, the fates wouldn’t existed simply to mock him… This time, he had been so desperate for things to turn out differently. In his favor for once.

He hadn’t wanted to kill Aleks Cameron.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

A day passed, and Five spent that day traveling as far as he could, not through time, simply through space. 

He didn’t want to be there when his siblings realized what he had done. He knew they would understand as well as Luther… As well as Aleks had. Only he didn’t think he could kill any of the others.

Their names had been eliminated from the probability map near the beginning. It would make it much harder to kill them. Although if he was being honest with himself he knew that he was in that time period to save his family, not kill them.

At least math was still on his side.

Whatever it took.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Killing his larger, younger brother hadn’t upset Five nearly as much as he had thought it would. At least not after a day of internally chanting the same ten words.  
“Aleks had to die so that everyone else could live.”

He supposed he had come to accept the fact that Aleks had to die when he had written the name down. And when the name didn’t leave.  
But that didn’t mean he wasn’t still slightly upset. 

He took to bottle after not too long, he told himself he was celebrating.

He was mourning.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was when he was still working in correction back at the commission that he had learnt Luther’s real name. It was on the commission’s documents pertaining to Five.  
Luther was, as far as the commission could tell, the only one of the seven that had been named by his birth parents.

Five hadn’t thought it pertinent information then, and he hadn’t considered the name at all once he was back with his family.  
Until he saw the name Luther hanging around on his probability map.

He decided to use the name Aleks Cameron instead, to allow himself to start distancing himself already.

If he used the name that pertained to a man who was not Five’s own brother, it would be easier.

Easier to do whatever it took.

Just in case the probability map was right.

Just in case.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm really not sure if this is good or bad. Every time I read it I have a different opinion on it. So I decided to stop agonizing over it, and post it. I would of course then love to know what you thought of this piece!


End file.
